Coulter rose to prominence in the 1990s as an outspoken critic of the Clinton administration. Her first book concerned the Bill Clinton impeachment, and sprang from her experience writing legal briefs for Paula Jones's attorneys, as well as columns she wrote about the cases.[2][3] Known for her unapologetic conservative political opinions and the controversial ways in which she presents and defends them,[according to whom?] Coulter has described herself as a polemicist who likes to "stir up the pot", and does not "pretend to be impartial or balanced, as broadcasters do",[4] sometimes drawing criticism from the right, as well as the left.[5]

Coulter's syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate began appearing in newspapers, and was featured on major conservative websites.

Early life

Ann Hart Coulter was born in New York City on December 8, 1961, to John Vincent Coulter, a native of Albany, New York, and Nell Husbands Coulter (née Martin; died 2009[6]), a native of Paducah, Kentucky. The family later moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, where Coulter and her two older brothers, James and John, were raised.[7] She graduated from New Canaan High School in 1980. Coulter's age was disputed in 2002 while she was arguing that she was not yet 40, yet Washington Post columnist Lloyd Grove cited that she provided a birthdate of December 8, 1961, when registering to vote in New Canaan, Connecticut prior to the 1980 Presidential election. Meanwhile, a driver's license issued several years later allegedly listed her birthdate as December 8, 1963. Coulter will not confirm either date, citing privacy concerns.[8]

Coulter's career is highlighted by the publication of ten books, as well as the weekly syndicated newspaper column that she publishes. She is particularly known for her polemical style,[21] and describes herself as someone who likes to "stir up the pot. I don’t pretend to be impartial or balanced, as broadcasters do.”[22] She has been compared to Clare Boothe Luce, one of her idols, for her satirical style.[23] She also makes numerous public appearances, speaking on television and radio talk shows, as well as on collegecampuses, receiving both praise and protest. Coulter typically spends 6–12 weeks of the year on speaking engagement tours, and more when she has a book coming out.[24] In 2010, she made an estimated $500,000 on the speaking circuit, giving speeches on topics of modern conservatism, gay marriage, and what she perceives to be the hypocrisy of American liberalism.[25] During one appearance at the University of Arizona, a pie was thrown at her.[26][27][28] Coulter has, on occasion, in defense of her ideas, responded with insulting remarks toward hecklers and protestors who attend her speeches.[29][30]

Her second book, Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right, published by Crown Forum in 2002, reached the number one spot on The New York Times non-fiction best seller list.[32] In Slander, Coulter argues that President George W. Bush was given unfair negative media coverage. The factual accuracy of Slander was called into question by then-comedian and author, and now Democratic U.S. Senator from Minnesota, Al Franken; he also accused her of citing passages out of context.[33] Others investigated these charges, and also raised questions about the book's accuracy and presentation of facts.[34][35][36] Coulter responded to criticisms in a column called "Answering My Critics".[37]

Coulter's fifth book, published by Crown Forum in 2006, is Godless: The Church of Liberalism.[42] In it, she argues, first, that American liberalism rejects the idea of God and reviles people of faith, and second, that it bears all the attributes of a religion itself.[43]Godless debuted at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list.[44] Some passages in the book match portions of others' writings published at an earlier time (including newspaper articles and a Planned Parenthood document), leading John Barrie of ithenticate to assert that Coulter had engaged in "textbook plagiarism".[45]

In 1999 Coulter worked as a regular columnist for George magazine.[18][53] Coulter also wrote exclusive weekly columns between 1998 and 2003 and with occasional columns thereafter for the conservative magazine Human Events. In her columns for the magazine, she discusses judicial rulings, Constitutional issues, and legal matters affecting Congress and the executive branch.[54]

In 2001 as a contributing editor and syndicated columnist for National Review Online (NRO), Coulter was asked by editors to make changes to a piece written after the September 11 attacks. On the national television show Politically Incorrect, Coulter accused NRO of censorship and said that she was paid $5 per article. NRO dropped her column and terminated her editorship. Jonah Goldberg, editor-at-large of NRO, said, "We did not 'fire' Ann for what she wrote... we ended the relationship because she behaved with a total lack of professionalism, friendship, and loyalty [concerning the editing disagreement]."[55]

Coulter contracted with USA Today to cover the 2004 Democratic National Convention. She wrote one article that began, "Here at the Spawn of Satan convention in Boston..." and referred to some unspecified female attendees as "corn-fed, no make-up, natural fiber, no-bra needing, sandal-wearing, hirsute, somewhat fragrant hippie chick pie wagons". The newspaper declined to print the article citing an editing dispute over "basic weaknesses in clarity and readability that we found unacceptable". An explanatory article by the paper went on to say "Coulter told the online edition of Editor & Publisher magazine that 'USA Today doesn't like my "tone", humor, sarcasm, etc., which raises the intriguing question of why they hired me to write for them.'" USA Today replaced Coulter with Jonah Goldberg, and Coulter published it instead on her website.[56][57][58]

In August 2005, the Arizona Daily Star dropped Coulter's syndicated column citing reader complaints that "Many readers find her shrill, bombastic, and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives".[59]

In July 2006, some newspapers replaced Coulter's column with those of other conservative columnists following the publication of her fourth book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism.[60] After The Augusta Chronicle dropped her column, newspaper editor Michael Ryan explained that "it came to the point where she was the issue rather than what she was writing about".[61] Ryan also stated that "pulling Ann Coulter's column hurts; she's one of the clearest thinkers around".

She has criticized former president George W. Bush's immigration proposals, saying they led to "amnesty". In a 2007 column, she claimed that the current immigration system was set up to deliberately reduce the percentage of whites in the population. In it, she said:[62]

In 1960, whites were 90 percent of the country. The Census Bureau recently estimated that whites already account for less than two-thirds of the population and will be a minority by 2050. Other estimates put that day much sooner.

One may assume the new majority will not be such compassionate overlords as the white majority has been. If this sort of drastic change were legally imposed on any group other than white Americans, it would be called genocide. Yet whites are called racists merely for mentioning the fact that current immigration law is intentionally designed to reduce their percentage in the population.

Overall, Coulter's columns are highly critical of liberals and Democrats. In 2006, she wrote:[63]

This year's Democratic plan for the future is another inane sound bite designed to trick American voters into trusting them with national security.

To wit, they're claiming there is no connection between the war on terror and the war in Iraq, and while they are all for the war against terror—absolutely in favor of that war—they are adamantly opposed to the Iraq war. You know, the war where the U.S. military is killing thousands upon thousands of terrorists (described in the media as "Iraqi civilians", even if they are from Jordan, like the now-dead leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi). That war.

Coulter made her first national media appearance in 1996 after she was hired by the then-fledgling network MSNBC as a legal correspondent. She was dismissed from the network at least twice. First, in February 1997, after she allegedly insulted the late Pamela Harriman (U.S. Ambassador to France), as the network was covering her memorial service. They missed her jousting and quickly rehired her, only to fire her eight months later after she tangled with a disabled Vietnam veteran on the air. Robert Muller, co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, asserted that "in 90% of the cases that U.S. soldiers got blown up [in Vietnam]—Ann, are you listening—they were our own mines". (Muller was misquoting a 1969 Pentagon report that found that 90% of the components used in enemy mines came from U.S. duds and refuse). Coulter, who found Muller's statement laughable, averted her eyes and responded sarcastically, "No wonder you guys lost." It became an infamous—and oft-misreported—Coulter moment. The Washington Post and others turned the line into a more personal attack: "People like you caused us to lose that war." But her troubles with MSNBC only freed her to appear on CNN and Fox News, whose producers were often calling.[64]

Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post made a point to respond to the Time article to explain that his widely quoted reporting of Coulter's reply to the veteran in an article he wrote had its origin in Coulter's own later recollection of the incident. Describing his previous story, Kurtz added, "I did note that, according to Coulter, the vet was appearing by satellite, and she didn't know he was disabled."[65]

In an interview with Bob McKeown on the January 26, 2005 edition of The Fifth Estate, Coulter came under criticism for her statement, "Canada used to be...one of our most...most loyal friends, and vice versa. I mean, Canada sent troops to Vietnam. Was Vietnam less containable and more of a threat than Saddam Hussein?" McKeown contradicted her with, "No, actually Canada did not send troops to Vietnam."[66] On the February 18, 2005 edition of Washington Journal, Coulter justified her statement by referring to the thousands of Canadians who served in the American armed forces during the Vietnam era, either because they volunteered or because they were living in the United States during the war years and got drafted. She said, "The Canadian Government didn't send troops ... but ... they came and fought with the Americans. So I was wrong. It turns out there were 10,000 Americans who happened to be born in Canada." (There were actually between 5,000 and 20,000 Canadians who fought in Vietnam itself, including approximately 80 who were killed.)[67] John Cloud of Time, writing about the incident a few months later, said, "Canada [sent] noncombat troops to Indochina in the 1950s and again to Vietnam in 1972".[64]

In 2005, Coulter appeared as one of a three-person judging panel in The Greatest American, a four-part interactive television program for the Discovery Channel hosted by Matt Lauer. Starting with 100 nominees, each week, interactive viewer voting eliminated candidates. She voted for George Washington for the title of Greatest American ever.

Films

In 2004 Coulter appeared in three films. The first was Feeding the Beast, a made-for-television documentary on the "24-Hour News Revolution".[68] The other two films were FahrenHYPE 9/11, a direct-to-video documentary rebuttal of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911, and Is It True What They Say About Ann?, a documentary on Coulter containing clips of interviews and speeches.[69]

Personal life

Coulter has been engaged several times, but never married.[29] She has dated Spin founder and publisher Bob Guccione, Jr.,[18] and conservative writer Dinesh D'Souza.[70] In October 2007, she began dating Andrew Stein, the former president of the New York City Council, a liberal Democrat. When asked about the relationship, Stein told the paper, "She's attacked a lot of my friends, but what can I say, opposites attract!"[71] On January 7, 2008, however, Stein told the New York Post that the relationship was over, citing irreconcilable differences.[72]

Religious views

Coulter says that she holds Christian beliefs, but has not declared her membership in any particular denomination—she has mentioned that her father was Catholic while her mother was not.[78] At one public lecture she said, "I don't care about anything else; Christ died for my sins, and nothing else matters".[79] She summarized her view of Christianity in a 2004 column, saying, "Jesus' distinctive message was: People are sinful and need to be redeemed, and this is your lucky day, because I'm here to redeem you even though you don't deserve it, and I have to get the crap kicked out of me to do it." She then mocked "the message of Jesus...according to liberals", summarizing it as "something along the lines of 'be nice to people,'" which, in turn, she said "is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity".[80]

Confronting some critics' views that her content and style of writing is un-Christian-like,[81] Coulter stated that "I'm a Christian first and a mean-spirited, bigoted conservative second, and don't you ever forget it."[82] She also said, "Christianity fuels everything I write. Being a Christian means that I am called upon to do battle against lies, injustice, cruelty, hypocrisy—you know, all the virtues in the church of liberalism".[83] In Godless: The Church of Liberalism, Coulter characterized the theory of evolution as bogus science, and contrasted her beliefs to what she called the left's "obsession with Darwinism and the Darwinian view of the world, which replaces sanctification of life with sanctification of sex and death".[84]

Coulter was accused of anti-semitism in an October 8, 2007 interview with Donny Deutsch on The Big Idea. During the interview, Coulter stated that the United States is a Christian nation, and said that she wants "Jews to be perfected, as they say".[85] Deutsch, a practicing Jew, implied that this was an anti-semitic remark, but Coulter said she didn't consider it to be a hateful comment.[86] Three days after the interview, Deutsch noted that when he challenged her comments, Coulter appeared "to back off" and "seemed a little upset," adding, "I think she got frightened that maybe she had crossed a line, that this was maybe a faux pas of great proportions".[87] In response to Coulter's comments on the show, the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee condemned those comments, and the National Jewish Democratic Council asked media outlets to stop inviting Coulter as a guest commentator.[88] Talk show host Dennis Prager, while disagreeing with her comments, said that they were not "anti-semitic", noting, "There is nothing in what Ann Coulter said to a Jewish interviewer on CNBC that indicates she hates Jews or wishes them ill, or does damage to the Jewish people or the Jewish state. And if none of those criteria is present, how can someone be labeled anti-Semitic?"[89] Conservative activist David Horowitz responded:

If you don't accompany this belief by burning Jews who refuse to become perfected at the stake why would any Jew have a problem? Why do some Jews think that Christians should not really believe what they believe while it's okay for Jews to really believe they are God's Chosen People? I don't get it.[90]

Coulter opposes same-sex marriage and supports a federal U.S. constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. She insists that opposing same-sex marriage "wasn't an anti-gay thing". and "It's genuinely a pro-marriage position to oppose gay marriage".[97] She also opposes civil unions as well.[98] When addressed with the issue of rights granted by marriage she said "Gays already can visit loved ones in hospitals. They can also visit neighbors, random acquaintances, and total strangers in hospitals—just like everyone else. Gays can also pass on property to whomever they would like".[99] She disagreed with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 Lawrence v. Texas because she claims there is no right to sodomy in the Constitution,[100] however she doesn’t actually want to ban same-sex sexual activity.[101] She also disagreed with repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell stating that it is not an "anti-gay position; it is a pro-military position" because "sexual bonds are disruptive to the military bond".[102]

At the 2007 CPAC, Coulter said "I do want to point out one thing that has been driving me crazy with the media -- how they keep describing Mitt Romney's position as being pro-gays, and that's going to upset the right wingers," and "Well, you know, screw you! I'm not anti-gay. We're against gay marriage. I don't want gays to be discriminated against." She added, "I don't know why all gays aren't Republican. I think we have the pro-gay positions, which is anti-crime and for tax cuts. Gays make a lot of money and they're victims of crime. No, they are! They should be with us."[103] In Ann's 2007 book If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans, in the chapter Gays:No Gay Left Behind!, she argued that Republican policies were more pro-gay than Democratic policies. Ann Coulter attended the 2010 HomoCon of GOProud, where she blasted same-sex marriage and stated "is not a civil right—you're not black".[104] At the 2011 CPAC, during her question and answer segment, she was asked about GOProud and the controversy over their exclusion from the 2011 CPAC. She boasted how she talked GOProud into dropping its support for same-sex marriage in the party's platform and said that "The left is trying to co-opt gays, and I don't think we should let them. I think they should be on our side" and "Gays are natural conservatives".[105] Later that year, Coulter joined advisory board for GOProud. On LogosThe A-List: Dallas she told gay Republican, Taylor Garrett, that "The gays have got to be pro-life," and "As soon as they find the gay gene, guess who the liberal yuppies are gonna start aborting?"[106]

Political activities and commentary

Ann Coulter has described herself as a "polemicist" who likes to "stir up the pot" and doesn't "pretend to be impartial or balanced, as broadcasters do."[4] While her political activities in the past have included advising a plaintiff suing President Bill Clinton as well as considering a run for Congress, she mostly serves as a political pundit, sometimes creating controversy ranging from rowdy uprisings at some of the colleges where she speaks to protracted discussions in the media. Time magazine's John Cloud once observed that Coulter "likes to shock reporters by wondering aloud whether America might be better off if women lost the right to vote."[64] This was in reference to her statement that "it would be a much better country if women did not vote. That is simply a fact. In fact, in every presidential election since 1950—except Goldwater in '64—the Republican would have won, if only the men had voted."[109] Similarly, in an October 2007 interview with the New York Observer, Coulter said:[110]

If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.

It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing, the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it's the party of women and 'We'll pay for health care and tuition and day care—and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?'

Paula Jones – Bill Clinton case

Coulter first became a public figure shortly before becoming an unpaid legal adviser for the attorneys representing Paula Jones in her sexual harassment suit against President Bill Clinton. Coulter's friend George Conway had been asked to assist Jones' attorneys, and shortly afterward Coulter, who wrote a column about the Paula Jones case for Human Events, was also asked to help, and she began writing legal briefs for the case.

Coulter later stated that she would come to mistrust the motives of Jones' head lawyer, Joseph Cammaratta, who by August or September 1997 was advising Jones that her case was weak and to settle, if a favorable settlement could be negotiated.[15][111] From the outset, Jones had sought an apology from Clinton at least as eagerly as she sought a settlement.[112] However, in a later interview Coulter recounted that she herself had believed that the case was strong, that Jones was telling the truth, that Clinton should be held publicly accountable for his misconduct, and that a settlement would give the impression that Jones was merely interested in extorting money from the President.[15]

Coulter played one particularly key role in keeping the Jones case alive. In Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff's new book Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story, Coulter is unmasked as the one who leaked word of Clinton's "distinguishing characteristic"—his reportedly bent penis that Jones said she could recognize and describe—to the news media. Her hope was to foster mistrust between the Clinton and Jones camps and forestall a settlement ... I thought if I leaked the distinguishing characteristic it would show bad faith in negotiations. [Clinton lawyer] Bob Bennett would think Jones had leaked it. Cammaratta would know he himself hadn't leaked it and would get mad at Bennett. It might stall negotiations enough for me to get through to [Jones adviser] Susan Carpenter-McMillan to tell her that I thought settling would hurt Paula, that this would ruin her reputation, and that there were other lawyers working for her. Then 36 hours later, she returned my phone call. I just wanted to help Paula. I really think Paula Jones is a hero. I don't think I could have taken the abuse she came under. She's this poor little country girl and she has the most powerful man she's ever met hitting on her sexually, then denying it and smearing her as president. And she never did anything tacky. It's not like she was going on TV or trying to make a buck out of it."[15]

In his book, Isikoff also reported Coulter as saying: "We were terrified that Jones would settle. It was contrary to our purpose of bringing down the President."[111] After the book came out, Coulter clarified her stated motives, saying:

The only motive for leaking the distinguishing characteristic item that [Isikoff] gives in his book is my self-parodying remark that "it would humiliate the president" and that a settlement would foil our efforts to bring down the president.... I suppose you could take the position, as [Isikoff] does, that we were working for Jones because we thought Clinton was a lecherous, lying scumbag, but this argument gets a bit circular. You could also say that Juanita Broaddrick's secret motive in accusing Clinton of rape is that she hates Clinton because he raped her. The whole reason we didn't much like Clinton was that we could see he was the sort of man who would haul a low-level government employee like Paula to his hotel room, drop his pants, and say, "Kiss it." You know: Everything his defense said about him at the impeachment trial. It's not like we secretly disliked Clinton because of his administration's position on California's citrus cartels or something, and then set to work on some crazy scheme to destroy him using a pathological intern as our Mata Hari.[113]

The case went to court after Jones broke with Coulter and her original legal team, and it was dismissed via summary judgment. The judge ruled that even if her allegations proved true, Jones did not show that she had suffered any damages, stating, "...plaintiff has not demonstrated any tangible job detriment or adverse employment action for her refusal to submit to the governor's alleged advances. The president is therefore entitled to summary judgment on plaintiff's claim of quid pro quo sexual harassment." The ruling was appealed by Jones' lawyers. During the pendency of the appeal, Clinton settled with Jones for $850,000 ($151,000 after legal fees) in November 1998, in exchange for Jones' dismissal of the appeal. By then, the Jones lawsuit had given way to the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal.

In October 2000, Jones revealed that she would pose for nude pictures in an adult magazine, saying she wanted to use the money to pay taxes and support her grade-school-aged children, in particular saying, "I'm wanting to put them through college and maybe set up a college fund."[114] Coulter publicly denounced Jones, calling her "the trailer-park trash they said she was" (Coulter had earlier chastened Clinton supporters for calling Jones this name),[115] after Clinton's former campaign strategist James Carville had made the widely reported remark, "Drag a $100 bill through a trailer park, and you'll never know what you'll find," and called Jones a "fraud, at least to the extent of pretending to be an honorable and moral person."[114]

Coulter wrote:

Paula surely was given more than a million dollars in free legal assistance from an array of legal talent she will never again encounter in her life, much less have busily working on her behalf. Some of those lawyers never asked for or received a dime for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal work performed at great professional, financial and personal cost to themselves. Others got partial payments out of the settlement. But at least they got her reputation back. And now she's thrown it away.[116]

Jones claimed not to have been offered any help with a book deal of her own or any other additional financial help after the lawsuit.[114]

I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I'm... so, kind of at an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards, so I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions.

The comment was in reference to Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington's use of the epithet and his subsequent mandatory "psychological assessment" imposed by ABC executives.[119] It was widely interpreted as meaning that Coulter had called Edwards a "faggot," but Coulter argued that she didn't actually do so, while simultaneously indicating she would not have been wrong to say it.[120] Edwards responded on his web site by characterizing Coulter's words as "un-American and indefensible," and asking readers to help him "raise $100,000 in 'Coulter Cash' this week to keep this campaign charging ahead and fight back against the politics of bigotry."[121] He also called her a "she-devil," adding, "I should not have name-called. But the truth is—forget the names—people like Ann Coulter, they engage in hateful language."[122] Coulter's words also drew condemnation from many prominent Republicans and Democrats, as well as groups such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).[121][123][124] Three advertisers (Verizon, Sallie Mae and Netbank) also pulled their advertisements from Coulter's web site,[125] and several newspapers dropped her column.[126][127] Coulter responded in an e-mail to the New York Times, "C’mon, it was a joke. I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean."[124] On March 5, 2007, she appeared on Hannity and Colmes and said, "Faggot isn't offensive to gays; it has nothing to do with gays. It's a schoolyard taunt meaning 'wuss.'"[128] Gay rights advocates were not convinced. "Ann Coulter's use of this anti-gay slur is vile and unacceptable," said Neil G. Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, "and the applause from her audience is an important reminder that Coulter's ugly brand of bigotry is at the root of the discriminatory policies being promoted at this gathering."[118] A spokesman for Sen. John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate, called Coulter's comments "wildly inappropriate."[118]

As the campaign waged on, she continued to insert her commentary regarding the candidates, both Democrats and Republicans. In a June 2007 interview, Coulter named Duncan Hunter as her choice for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination, highlighting his views on immigration and specifically his anti-abortion credentials, saying "[t]his is a winning issue for us, protecting little babies."[129] On January 16, 2008, Coulter began endorsing Governor Mitt Romney as her choice for the 2008 Republican nomination, saying he is "manifestly the best candidate" (contrasting Romney with Republican candidates John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Rudy Giuliani).[130] By contrast, Coulter was critical of eventual Republican nominee John McCain. On the January 31, 2008 broadcast of Hannity and Colmes, Coulter claimed that if McCain won the Republican nomination for president, she would support and campaign for Hillary Clinton, stating, "[Clinton] is more conservative than McCain."[131]

Regarding then-presidential-candidate Barack Obama in an April 2, 2008 column, she characterized his book Dreams from My Father as a "dimestore Mein Kampf." Coulter writes, "He says the reason black people keep to themselves is that it's 'easier than spending all your time mad or trying to guess whatever it was that white folks were thinking about you.' Here's a little inside scoop about white people: We're not thinking about you. Especially WASPs. We think everybody is inferior, and we are perfectly charming about it."[132]

On the eve of Coulter's first speech at the University of Western Ontario, an e-mail to Coulter from François Houle, provost of the University of Ottawa, was leaked to the media. The e-mail warned that "promoting hatred against any identifiable group would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges." Coulter released a public statement alleging that by sending her the e-mail, Houle was promoting hatred against conservatives.[134] During her speech at the University of Western Ontario she told a Muslim student to "take a camel," in response to the student's question about previous comments by Coulter that Muslims should not be allowed on airplanes.[135]

On March 22, the University of Ottawa made international news when liberal protesters conspired to prevent Coulter from speaking. The event was canceled in spite of a massive security presence; Alain Boucher of the Ottawa Police Service said there were ten officers visible at the scene, "plus other resources" nearby.[136] Boucher alleged that Coulter's security team decided to call off the event, saying, "We gave her options," including, he said, to "find a bigger venue." But "they opted to cancel ... It's not up to the Ottawa police to make that decision."[137] Boucher claimed there were no arrests.[138] CTV News reported, "It was a disaster in terms of just organization, which is probably one of the reasons why it was cancelled," citing the small number of students tasked with confirming who had signed up to attend Coulter's talk.[139]

Event organizer and conservative activist Ezra Levant blamed the protest on the letter sent to Coulter by Houle.[140] After the cancellation, Coulter called the University of Ottawa "bush league," stating:[141]

I go to the best schools, Harvard, the Ivy League, and those kids are too intellectually proud to threaten speakers. ... I would like to know when this sort of violence, this sort of protest, has been inflicted upon a Muslim—who appear to be, from what I’ve read of the human rights complaints, the only protected group in Canada. I think I’ll give my speech tomorrow night in a burka. That will protect me.

Comments on Islam, Arabs and terrorism

Airports scrupulously apply the same laughably ineffective airport harassment to Suzy Chapstick as to Muslimhijackers. It is preposterous to assume every passenger is a potential crazed homicidal maniac. We know who the homicidal maniacs are. They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war.[142]

I began running Coulter columns on Frontpagemag.com shortly after she came up with her most infamous line, which urged America to put jihadists to the sword and convert them to Christianity. Liberals were horrified; I was not. I thought to myself, this is a perfect send-up of what our Islamo-fascist enemies believe—that as infidels we should be put to the sword and converted to Islam. I regarded Coulter’s phillipic (sic) as a Swiftian commentary on liberal illusions of multi-cultural outreach to people who want to rip out our hearts.[144]

One day after the attacks (when death toll estimates were higher than later), Coulter asserted that only Muslims could have been behind the attacks:

Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims—at least all terrorists capable of assembling a murderous plot against America that leaves 7,000 people dead in under two hours.[145]

If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines, we could dispense with airport security altogether.[147]

Coulter also cited the 2002 Senate testimony of FBI whistleblower Coleen Rowley, who was acclaimed for condemning her superiors for refusing to authorize a search warrant for 9-11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui when he refused to consent to a search of his computer. They knew that he was a Muslim in flight school who had overstayed his visa, and the French Intelligence Service had confirmed his affiliations with radical fundamentalist Islamic groups. Coulter said she agreed that probable cause existed in the case, but that refusing consent, being in flight school and overstaying a visa should not constitute grounds for a search. Citing a poll which found that 98 percent of Muslims between the ages of 20 and 45 said they would not fight for Britain in the war in Afghanistan, and that 48 percent said they would fight for Osama bin Laden,[148] she asserted "any Muslim who has attended a mosque in Europe—certainly in England, where Moussaoui lived—has had 'affiliations with radical fundamentalist Islamic groups,'" so that she parsed Rowley's position as meaning that "'probable cause' existed to search Moussaoui's computer because he was a Muslim who had lived in England." Because "FBI headquarters ... refused to engage in racial profiling," they failed to uncover the 9-11 plot, Coulter asserted. "The FBI allowed thousands of Americans to be slaughtered on the altar of political correctness. What more do liberals want?"[149]

Coulter wrote in another column that she had reviewed the civil rights lawsuits against certain airlines to determine which of them had subjected Arabs to the most "egregious discrimination" so that she could fly only that airline. She also said that the airline should be bragging instead of denying any of the charges of discrimination brought against them.[150] In an interview with The Guardian she quipped, "I think airlines ought to start advertising: 'We have the most civil rights lawsuits brought against us by Arabs.'" When the interviewer replied by asking what Muslims would do for travel, she responded, "They could use flying carpets."[109]

One comment that drew criticism from the blogosphere, as well as fellow conservatives,[151] was made during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2006, where she said, referring to the prospect of a nuclear-equipped Iran, "What if they start having one of these bipolar episodes with nuclear weapons? I think our motto should be, post-9-11: Raghead talks tough, raghead faces consequences."[152] Coulter had previously written a nearly identical passage in her syndicated column: "...I believe our motto should be, after 9/11: Jihad monkey talks tough; jihad monkey takes the consequences. Sorry, I realize that's offensive. How about 'camel jockey'? What? Now what'd I say? Boy, you tent merchants sure are touchy. Grow up, would you?"[153]

In October 2007, Coulter made further controversial remarks regarding Arabs—in this case Iraqis—when she stated in an interview with The New York Observer:

We've killed about 20,000 of them, of terrorists, of militants, of Al Qaeda members, and they’ve gotten a little over 3,000 of ours. That is where the war is being fought, in Iraq. That is where we are fighting Al Qaeda. Sorry we have to use your country, Iraqis, but you let Saddam come to power, and we are going to instill democracy in your country.[154]

In a May 2007 article looking back at the life of recently deceased evangelical Reverend Jerry Falwell, Coulter commented on his (later retracted) statement after the 9/11 attacks that "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America ... helped this happen." In her article, Coulter stated that she disagreed with Falwell's statement, "because Falwell neglected to specifically include Teddy Kennedy and 'the Reverend' Barry Lynn."[155]

In October 2007, Coulter participated in David Horowitz' "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," remarking in a speech at the University of Southern California, "The fact of Islamo-Fascism is indisputable. I find it tedious to detail the savagery of the enemy ... I want to kill them. Why don't Democrats?"[156]

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings Coulter told Hannity host Sean Hannity that the wife of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev should be jailed for wearing a hijab. Coulter continued by saying "Assimilating immigrants into our culture isn’t really working. They’re assimilating us into their culture."[157]

In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris, Coulter told said France “needs to move to the next step” in dealing with terror. Coulter said of some immigrants:

They don’t want to live in Muslim countries, and yet they want to change the non-Muslim countries they move to [into] Muslim countries. It may be a small minority of Muslims “and still it’s enough of them that maybe you take a little pause in Muslim immigration for a while.”[158]

Ionizing radiation as "cancer vaccine"

On March 16, 2011, discussing the Fukushima I nuclear accidents, Coulter, citing research into radiation hormesis, wrote that there was "burgeoning evidence that excess radiation operates as a sort of cancer vaccine."[159] Her comments were criticized by figures across the political spectrum, from Fox News' Bill O'Reilly (who told Coulter, "You have to be responsible .... in something like this, you gotta get the folks out of there, and you have to report worst-case scenarios")[160] to MSNBC's Ed Schulz (who stated that "You would laugh at her if she wasn't making light of a terrible tragedy.")[161]

2012 presidential election

During the Republican Party presidential primaries, she supported Mitt Romney over former Speaker of the HouseNewt Gingrich. On an interview with The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, she compared Newt Gingrich's attacks on the media to Jesse Jackson "accusing people of racism".[162] On her website, she posted a column titled, "Re-elect Obama: Vote Newt!" arguing that if Newt Gingrich won the Republican nomination, Barack Obama would win re-election.[163] When asked to respond about her criticism, Newt Gingrich dismissed them as "the old order" and cited recent polls showing him ahead of Mitt Romney.[164]

On October 22, 2012, following a presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, Coulter published the following tweet from her official Twitter account (@anncoulter): "I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard," drawing stiff criticism for her use of a word which some find offensive to describe the president of the United States. The Special Olympics condemned Coulter in a tweet shortly after Coulter's.[165] On The Alan Colmes Show, Coulter stated that she does not regret her use of the word, saying, "'Retard' had been used colloquially to just mean 'loser' for 30 years. But no, these aggressive victims have to come out and tell you what words to use."[166]

After the election, in which Barack Obama won, Ann Coulter wrote a column titled "Romney Was Not the Problem". In it she argued against the idea that Mitt Romney lost because he failed to get his message across. She also said that Mitt Romney lost because he was running against an incumbent.[167]

2013 CPAC Conference

In March 2013, Coulter was one of the keynote speakers at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where she made references to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's weight ("CPAC had to cut back on its speakers this year about 300 pounds") and progressive activist Sandra Fluke's hairdo. (Coulter quipped that Fluke didn't need birth control pills because "that haircut is birth control enough.") Coulter advocated against a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants because such new citizens would never vote for Republican candidates: "If amnesty goes through, America becomes California and no Republican will ever win another election."[168][169]

Comments on Soccer

During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Coulter continuously criticized the growing interest of the Americans in the national team's campaign at the competition held in Brazil and in soccer as a whole, claiming that it represents the country's "moral decay". On her article, she claims that:[170]

You can’t use your hands in soccer. (Thus eliminating the danger of having to catch a fly ball.) What sets man apart from the lesser beasts, besides a soul, is that we have opposable thumbs. Our hands can hold things. Here’s a great idea: Let’s create a game where you’re not allowed to use them!

Soccer is like the metric system, which liberals also adore because it’s European. Naturally, the metric system emerged from the French Revolution, during the brief intervals when they weren’t committing mass murder by guillotine.

If more “Americans” are watching soccer today, it’s only because of the demographic switch effected by Teddy Kennedy’s 1965 immigration law. I promise you: No American whose great-grandfather was born here is watching soccer. One can only hope that, in addition to learning English, these new Americans will drop their soccer fetish with time.[171]

^Coulter says the poll was "by the "Daily Telegraph", actually it was by Sunrise, an "Asian"(i.e., Indian subcontinent-oriented) radio station, canvassing the opinions of 500 Muslims in Greater London (not Britain as a whole), mainly of Pakistani origin and aged between 20 and 45. Smith, Michael; Amit Roy (2001-10-30). "Britons who join Taliban to face trial". London: Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-30.